OK, so my first Gauley fest did not disappoint.
Day 1 - Lower Gauley (PFD + Swim)
Man o man, what a fun river. I've been dreaming about a river like this one since I discovered play boating. Not only are the rapids and play spots plentiful, but they're all AWESOME play spots. The start is one of the best things on the river - 5 boat hole. 30 foot wide (guessing) play wave. How could that not be fun?
Canyon walls, a big fun section with waves as big as Hollywood at 8 feet.
The Mashes, really cool. Lower Mash has an awesome, fast, kick your ass, trashy play wave. To quote Guy "Man I wish I knew how to do something!" on that wave. I wish I knew how too. If there was ever a chance to throw a blunt or something more difficult, that's the wave for it.
Diagonal ledges: layers of fun, awesome play waves. Spin, surf, blunt, many chances as long as the eddy line isn't too long.
Pure Screaming Hell: I'd be screaming if I got caught in the hole! Really not that tough when following the line Guy gave us. I admit, I thought about surfing the hole. But sanity overcame. I hate when that happens.
Oh, and I swam. I was surfing a wave below canyon walls I think it was. I did a stern pry to move into a side surf and next thing I knew, my paddle was gone. I went over trying to reach for it. I don't have a hand roll, but tried it anyway. I had no idea if anyone even saw me go over. Slapped my hull for a T, but decided I couldn't wait and punched out. I came up to see Shaggy charging towards me and my paddle about an arms reach away. He collected up my boat. I grabbed my paddle and javelined it into an eddy and swam to river right to lick my proverbial wounds. Damn! Reset the swim clock!
Day 2 - New River Gorge - Paddling the sleeping giant. (PFD)
The level was -2.2 or there abouts. This is a seriously fun run. Not much play at that level, but you can't help but see the potential. I can't say there were any real tough spots at this level. Although Lower Keeney really got your attention. I can see why these rapids are so formidable with water in them. Man I can't wait until I find this river at higher water. I'll reserve my official first report for a higher level. I had a hell of a time on the trip though. It's seriously fun. I can't imagine the fun at "regular" levels (0-2 feet). This one stays on my list of must do's. Felt like I almost had a loop while playing next to Greyhound Bus Stopper rock. I may not have been close, but it felt cool!
Day 3 - Upper Gauley - i.e. the pucker factor incarnate (PFD)
Sort of felt stuck to do this run. I didn't plan to do it this weekend. I though I would wait until next season. I started to think I was pushing too hard and moving too fast. But I didn't want to do another run on the low water New and couldn't make the logistics work for the Lower Gauley #2 run I had planned with Matt. So, if I wanted to paddle, it was the upper G. Oh, and not even an inkling of a regret! Best decision I made all weekend!
I was nervous, but not until I hit the water. Which scared me. I usually feel more calm once on the water. I surfed the first wave as Guy suggested. It helped, but I felt myself shaking through the first 2 rapids. I got on Juggy's stern and tried not to lose sight of him the rest of the day.
Insignificant is anything but. Made it with dry hair I think (I don't remember a roll).
Most of the rapids blur but I remember some nice surf waves which I was too chicken sh!# to take advantage of. Although, I think it was Hungry Mother which was a lot of fun to surf but I couldn't do anything with.
The next big thing I remember...
Pillow Rock - Let me just pre-empt this description by saying HOLY SH!#! What a huge F-ing rapid! Rock, rock, hole, hole, stay to the left of them all and then cut right. (I think those were the instructions) This description does no justice what so ever to this rapid. It wasn't difficult, but you could easily be petrified and roll, or not have anyone to follow and screw up completely. This is by far and away the biggest friekin rapid I have ever seen, with a close second of Sweets which comes later in the run. Of course there's Iron Ring. Oh, and Lost Paddle, can't forget that one. Well anyway, IT WAS REALLLLY BIG! I DID make this one with a dry head. I ran the last part of it backwards, skirting the toilet bowl, and running over Volkswagen rock in reverse. I think it was after this rapid when I asked Juggy to not tell me the name of the rapids until after I had gone through them. I knew some about the rapids and didn't want to let them get into my head before going through.
We hit...the next rapid. (Lost Paddle)
It was long, it was really long. I didn't realize we were within one rapid. I thought we had gone through a couple of rapids. We stopped to surf on a super awesome wave. I was pissed I only got one crack at the wave though. I surfed, I bounced, I think I tried to spin 180 and then was off. I rolled behind the wave and got washed down stream. From what I know, that seemed like a top class wave to me. Once again, "Boy I wish I knew how to do something!" while riding that wave. Juggy played on it like he was playing at Variation or something. Spin, spin, whatever, I could barely see his head above the crest of the wave. It looked damn good though. I couldn't see anyone else get on the wave. My ride was leaving (Juggy), and I didn't want to get left behind.
We went through the last drop in lost paddle and pressed on. (More like floated at a high rate of speed. Boy I love moving flat water!) I rolled while peeling out of no where of significance in Lost Paddle. Just to keep the roll counter going. Ha!
Through Conestoga on to Shipwreck. I think it was at some point after that where I had the biggest hurting I was to have on the run. Nothing fancy, nothing exciting. There was a raft in the way which screwed up Juggy's line, and of course I followed him as close as possible. I rolled in a hole which he punched through, hit my head on a rock, slammed my shoulder off a rock and gave an underwater grunt, then rolled up hoping my shoulder was still going to work. Came up, all was well.
Iron Ring - One hell of a rapid, but pretty straight forward. I rolled, but not until I was close to being in the run out of the rapid. I came through the main drop, over Woodstock, down the seemingly vertical wave on the back side and I believe then is where I rolled. (Although, others with a better view would be more accurate. I know I didn't roll in the main drop. That would have hurt.)
On through the remainder of the rapids, none of which seemed any smaller than Hollywood at 5-6 feet. Until we got to Sweets.
I had seen video of Sweets. I wondered what the big deal was until I was at the top of it looking down. Juggy's instructions: ride the slack water until you can sit on top looking down the drop. Find the gnarliest part of the rapid and put yourself right into it. Be ready to brace on the left. OK. I can do that. Juggy goes in front. Sets up much like I thought he would. Then he drops out of sight. "What the...!?" I didn't think it was that big a drop! A few seconds later I'm where Juggy was, thinking GOD D^@*! That's HUGE! Plus there were about 3 waves converging into one at the bottom. Into the drop I go. I was angled the wrong way, I hit with about an 11 o'clock angle when I should have hit with a 1 o'clock angle. I never stood a chance. I was under water and rolled before even hitting the surface. I rolled underwater? Can that happen? Oh well, you're upside down regardless. I rolled up, paddled like crazy away from postage stamp rock as I watched Juggy splat it. It was like a party down there. Rafts everywhere, people standing on every rock there was, lots of cheering, very cool.
The rest of the run was uneventful, just some typical huge waves and rocks with boiling eddies everywhere you tried to settle. Just like the rest of the river. Nothing surprising, at least not for this river. Oh yea, the hike out bites. I'm still sore and sort of limping from the pain in my legs.
This was my style of river. Tons 'o fun, lots 'o waves, mucho machismo! HA! I can't wait to do it again. Although, Juggy? where will you be for my next run? Guy? KessmanN? Anyone???? This is one big river.
The thank yous...
Thanks Juggy of course for mother ducking me down the Upper. Thanks to Guy for encouraging me to do it and for keeping me safe on both the Upper, Lower AND the New. Thanks to Dave K for arranging the whole weekend. Thanks to all those who ran shuttle: Anne, Jen & Sue most definitely included. Thanks to Karl for getting me home! Oh and a huge thank you to those who actually encouraged me to mooch food at the campground. What a great group!
I can't wait for next year! Wait, Gauley season isn't over yet! When's the next trip!!
Thanks for reading if you got this far!
-Rob
Gauley Fest PFD's
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DJeffSmith
- Class III
- Posts: 557
- Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:21 am
- Location: Richmond, VA
You're welcome Rob, You did great. Your order of events are a little off but that's to be expected.
We both hit the great surfing wave in Insignificant. Next big one was pillow. Then we hit the play spots at Scales and Hungary Mother. Hungary Mother which is the one you jumped in and said you wished you could do something with it. After some smaller rapids there was Lost Paddle. The spot you rolled was not one of the major of the 5 drops in there but was still of significance as 97% of the rocks in Lost Paddle are undercut and I had Hazmat yelling to get my attention from the eddy we just left. Glad you rolled as that's where I went hauling butt after Greg the day before. After that you'll have to ask Guy about the rapid order as it's something about Tumble Weeds and Wagons but I know the next big one is Iron Ring where Guy once again demonstrated his standard line.... The rapid where you took your shoulder shot is called Baby Z and is between Iron Ring and Sweets. It's also the spot that the got a kid from one of the kayak schools last year in a right side boof move. Then there's Sweets where the instructions are always "Float up to the edge and drop down where it looks like you should go." What a fun thing for a first timer to hear and then see.
It runs again the next three weekends so let me know what you're up to. I don't have a lot else going on...
We both hit the great surfing wave in Insignificant. Next big one was pillow. Then we hit the play spots at Scales and Hungary Mother. Hungary Mother which is the one you jumped in and said you wished you could do something with it. After some smaller rapids there was Lost Paddle. The spot you rolled was not one of the major of the 5 drops in there but was still of significance as 97% of the rocks in Lost Paddle are undercut and I had Hazmat yelling to get my attention from the eddy we just left. Glad you rolled as that's where I went hauling butt after Greg the day before. After that you'll have to ask Guy about the rapid order as it's something about Tumble Weeds and Wagons but I know the next big one is Iron Ring where Guy once again demonstrated his standard line.... The rapid where you took your shoulder shot is called Baby Z and is between Iron Ring and Sweets. It's also the spot that the got a kid from one of the kayak schools last year in a right side boof move. Then there's Sweets where the instructions are always "Float up to the edge and drop down where it looks like you should go." What a fun thing for a first timer to hear and then see.
It runs again the next three weekends so let me know what you're up to. I don't have a lot else going on...
Thanks, Justin, for correcting the order for me in my own mind if for no other reason. New rivers tend to blur.
Are you going to be up there for the Lower First timers weekend coming up in a few days? I'd be up for hitting the Upper again the following day! (as long as my legs have recovered for the hike out!)
Are you going to be up there for the Lower First timers weekend coming up in a few days? I'd be up for hitting the Upper again the following day! (as long as my legs have recovered for the hike out!)